


Sang the Crow on the Cradle

by TheAnswerIsDawn



Category: Sharpe - All Media Types
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-15
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-25 11:52:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2620742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAnswerIsDawn/pseuds/TheAnswerIsDawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of moments in the life of Richard Sharpe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Winter, on the Portuguese border (1812)

**Author's Note:**

> Title from 'Crow on the Cradle' by Show of Hands.

  
Night gathers like a cloak where, grit-eyed, you lay down to sleep  
In the mud, and huddled in overcoat and blanket  
Spend a while just breathing, where

Just beyond the span of your vision, a fire shivers wanly,  
And turning a little towards your back, you look up at Portuguese stars  
Like London streetlamps, and wish,  
Not knowing that one day, you will look to a Norman night  
And know peace.

Now a horse shifts, somewhere distant, and  
For a moment the stars are foreign campfires on a plain of night,  
Then footsteps, slow, a little frost-crunched,  
And rough hands strangely gentle tug the blanket  
Higher, to settle like homespun wool  
Against your back, and

In the morning there is tea, and brandy,

And something like hope.


	2. August, the Château Castineau (1825)

Summer this time, Normandy,  
And resting at midday  
Beneath the oak  
You close your eyes to drowsy heat, and,  
Tilting your head back,  
Drink up the ancient sun  
Like meadow-wheat,  
Remembering a day, many years ago and scorching,  
And a smile that could light the heavens.

A hail from the gate, and you sit,  
Spit the stalk from between rough lips,  
And turning for your gun, laugh instead,  
And chase the dog across the meadow,

And there at the gate, laughing a little and  
Grinning that way you remember,

Is Harper.


End file.
